Heartbreaking Scheme, 1992

In the summer of 1983, twelve-year-old Meng Ping, the only daughter of a wealthy family, fell into the water and was rescued by a boy named Yi Hua. Three bolts of cloth were given as a reward, but they sparked a greedy desire in Yi Hua's sister, Yi Mei, to take advantage of Meng Ping's family. The siblings spun a web of kindness around her, and especially after Meng Ping's mother died, they made her believe she had found both family and love.

In the winter of 1990, Meng Ping gave up everything and insisted on marrying Yi Hua. A month after the wedding, her sister-in-law urged her husband to pressure her into giving him money to open a shop. When that failed, Yi Mei threatened to leave to find work elsewhere. Meng Ping gave her the fare, hoping she would make something of herself. Yi Hua wrote home to complain that his working conditions were terrible, but all five letters Meng Ping sent to the address he had provided were returned marked "no such person." Her father went out to find his son-in-law and was away for more than forty days. On his return, he died in a car accident. His dying wish was for her to "move back home."

Meng Ping and her mother-in-law depended on each other. While sick, Meng Ping gave birth to a son. By chance, she overheard her husband, who had sneaked home, plotting with his sister: take the family property, take the child, divorce her, and marry a pregnant woman... This marriage had been a scheme from the very beginning...

The truth was horrifying. Yi Hua fled to Guangzhou, while Yi Mei pretended to be insane. Meng Ping's illness suddenly worsened, and her mother-in-law died full of resentment. As her life drew to a close, she quietly sent her young son away, gave away all her possessions, and passed away in peace.

On the night of her burial, Yi Hua's new wife in Guangzhou died giving birth to a daughter. Yi Hua was driven out and returned home, only to be stopped by the entire village at the gate of the Meng family courtyard. After reading the diary and letters she had left behind, he went mad overnight. On a Mid-Autumn Festival night under a full moon, he set his sister's house on fire. No one knew what became of him afterward.

Twenty-five years later, the son Meng Ping had sent away returned to his hometown with a pair of twin boys. He whispered at her grave, "Mom, the elder twin's surname is Zhang, and the younger twin's surname is Meng now. His name is Meng Chengzu."

At last, beneath the Yellow Springs, she had finally waited for the springtime of her descendants...